Fortnightly seminars online: Deciphering the impact of electrical charges on cell behaviour by Sara Martin & Integration of multifunctional materials in POC devices by Joseba Totoricaguena

Deciphering the impact of electrical charges on cell behaviour
Piezoelectric materials, that is materials that generate an electric current when mechanically loaded, are of interest for various applications, including biomedicine. In fact, electrical stimulation is known to regulate a number of physiologic processes, ranging from bone forming to endothelial cell homeostasis. For this reason, great attention is being directed to the analysis of the influence of piezoelectric polymers on the behaviour of cells with the aim of controlling specific responses related to cell proliferation, growth, migration and differentiation.
In this seminar, I will talk about PVDF as a selected piezoelectric substrate and discuss how it affects the behaviour of Natural Killers (NKs). These cells of the innate immune system have shown great potential for the treatment of tumors resistant to standard treatment, but their wide use in clinical practice is hampered by the difficulty of amplifying them in vitro. In this context, I will show results on NK cell proliferation, survival and surface marker expression analyzed by flow cytometry. Our results suggest that static NK culture on positively-poled PVDF renders increased NK cell number, pointing to its potential for the ex vivo amplification of this cell type. Finally, I will discuss the new steps of my research and future perspectives at BCMaterials.
Integration of multifunctional materials in POC devices
Point Of Care (POC) devices enable immediate diagnostics for a better evaluation, diagnostic, treatment of patients and optimization of clinical results. Most current POC devices require specific instrumentation, such as potentiostats or optical readers. One way to make more accessible PoC devices is to use mobile phones as wireless power supply and detection equipment, leading to a rapid, robust, equipment-free and user friendly analysis. In this seminar, I will briefly explain the general ideas of my PhD project. The main goal is to design, produce and characterize devices that rely on the mobile phone as instrumentation platform. Biosensor information will be obtained by the mobile phone as either an electrical or an optical signal. Next, I will present the work done in the first 4 months and, last, I will explain my future work.
The seminar will be online due to COVID restrictions.
https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_YmNmOTU1ZGUtMTdiNS00OTQ4LTk1YTEtZjM3YmVhMTUyZmI5%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%222f54ab68-83af-4d70-8895-a0d1e95ec899%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%227778b4e1-e06d-485b-b530-cf013d4e9498%22%2c%22IsBroadcastMeeting%22%3atrue%7d
Related news
Qi Zhang, nombrado profesor visitante de la NUAA (China)
Nuestro Ikerbasque Research Professor Qi Zhang fue nombrado este mes de abril profesor invitado de la Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics (NUAA). Zhang, que cuenta con una dilatada...La red doctoral ECLectic se reúne en BCMaterials
BCMaterials fue anfitrión, entre el 1 al 4 de abril, del segundo encuentro de la red doctoral Marie Curie ECLectic. Nuestro centro forma parte del consorcio de 10 universidades, centros de...Fuelium, premio BEST 2025 a la start-up vasca más circular
Fuelium, a startup co-founded and scientifically advised by our Ikerbasque Research Associate Professor Juan Pablo Esquivel, has been honored as the Most Circular Basque Startup at the Basque...BCMaterials, anfitrión de la Asamblea general del proyecto BIOntier
Los días 1 y 2 de abril, la sede de BCMaterials acogió la segunda asamblea general del proyecto Horizon Europe BIOntier “BreakIng FrOntiers in sustainable and circular biocomposites with high...